A welcoming gesture…

Today, Coco and I were sitting around the house with nothing to do.  We had gone to church, eaten lunch - grilled burgers (more on that soon!) - and the boys had left for the afternoon.  We gave our dog a bath and brushed his teeth, painted our nails and had been coloring the majority of the afternoon.  She wanted to make cookies, I did not.  The main reason I didn't want to was because of this low carb diet Nater and I are doing.  I told her "if we make cookies, mommy and daddy will eat them all."  Then I remembered that we have two sets of new neighbors.  We could make cookies and be all hospitable and neighborly and bring them some homemade cookies… which is a bit outside of my comfort zone, but a totally fun idea.  So Coco and I started mixing and stirring and getting flour everywhere… baking with little ones takes patience, something I sometimes lack!

Coco LOVES to lick the beaters… and yes, I let her!  I can hardly say no when I eat about two whole cookies worth of raw dough myself! :)  Don't judge. 

(Recipe is below)

The perfectly done little morsels of heaven! These cookies are my absolute FAVORITE!  I could eat at least 10 of them in one sitting.  I have been making these cookies since I was in high school… same ol' recipe.   

Here are our finished plates of cookies…. "Welcome to Apple Tree Village.  A sweet place to live.  Enjoy the sweet treats!"  It actually worked out really nice and Coco and I got to meet some really nice people.  Hopefully as the weather warms up and more people start spending time outside we will get to know them even more!  Glad Coco talked me into doing this :) 

We call these cookies "Ida's VERY SOFT cookies" simply because the cleaning lady at the restaurant we used to own, named Ida, gave us the recipe.  The funny story behind these delightful cookies is that one day my husband asked me to make my "great grandma's cookies".  I just stared at him, a bit of blank look on my face I am sure… (I have no recipes passed down from my Great Grandma) and he finally says, "Grandma Ida's cookies?!"  I laughed SO hard at the mix up, but could totally understand how he came to think they were from my grandma.  So although this is not a passed down from generation to generation recipe… I have no doubt it will be! I hope you LOVE them as much as we do! 

Ida's Very Soft Cookies

(wet ingredients) 

1 cup margarine (I use butter)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbs milk

1 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

(dry ingredients)

4 cups flour

1 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

12 oz. chocolate chips

Cream first three ingredients then add egg & milk - mix. Add oil & Vanilla - Mix

Meanwhile, combine all dry ingredients, sift slowly into wet ingredients.  Stir. Throw in Chocolate chips and stir.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes. 

I don't really know how many cookies this makes because we usually make 2 dozen and put the rest of the dough in the fridge.  Then we make 4 - 8 cookies whenever we feel like having a sweet treat!  I hope you like your cookies!  

Drinking on a low carb diet…

Finding a drink that isn't going to ruin your diet can be tricky!  If you're a beer fan (like me primarily) here is a list of beers and their sugar calories (total carbs X 4).

Blue Moon (personal fav!): 12.5 carbs = 50 sugar calories.  YIKES!
Bud Light: 6.6 carbs = 26.4 sugar calories
Coors Light (another fav of mine): 5 carbs =  20 sugar calories
Michelob Ultra: 2.6 carbs = 10.4 sugar calories

As is evident by the numbers, drinking beer on a low carb diet isn't necessarily the best option.  I suppose in reality the best option would be to drink no alcohol but lets face it… I like to partake in a beverage every now and then too much to give it up… even for optimal health!

I have found a substitute drink that doesn't ruin my diet and it still taste good!  Vodka Waters! Yes, you read that right.  Vodka, mixed with water.  Sounds horrific and it is nasty on its own, but mix it some Crystal Light and you've got yourself a carb free drink!  Low calories too…

There are a ton of different liquid Crystal Lights out there now-a-days and most of them taste pretty good.  I throw one in my purse prior to going out and I am set.  The nice thing is I can adjust the amount of syrup that I put it, so I can make it stronger or weaker with just a squeeze of the bottle! 

My favorite are the Black Cheery Lemonade and the Blueberry Raspberry flavors.    My only piece of advice is if you are not use to drinking vodka, you can get intoxicated very quickly, so pace yourself.  They taste like juice, so they are dangerous that way too.  Also,  I find the hangover for hard alcohol drinks to be worse than simple beer.   With that said, ENJOY your carb free drink!